Last week Chartwell were invited to attend the sixth annual edition of TEDxLondonBusinessSchool. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. This year’s theme, CTR ALT DEL encouraged attendees to let go of their expectations and leave all preconceptions at the door in a bid to form an audience ready to absorb new ideas about transformation, innovation and achievement.

There were 16 speakers altogether, ranging from business experts through to art critics and even a hypnotist. Mathew Syed was one of the early speakers to make an impression with his thought provoking address in which he made the case for acknowledging failure and confronting mistakes – a notion he refers to as “Black Box Thinking” – as the most effective path to progress and success in any organisation. He cited blame culture and big egos and the prime suspects preventing individuals and organisations from challenging the status quo and changing behaviours to prevent the same mistakes from happening over and over again.

During the afternoon session, Professor of Marketing and Director of LBS’ very own Deloitte Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Rajesh Candy challenged our preconceptions about entrepreneurs, often a label associated with prosperity in today’s society. Making the case that too many entrepreneurs can actually lead to reduced productivity, Professor Candy cited his most recent study which shows Uganda and Greece topping the list of countries with the highest proportion of entrepreneurs!

At Chartwell, ideas are our trade and we love getting out and about to listen to new and inspiring speakers whenever we can. TEDx is a wonderful platform for sharing new thinking and we were delighted to have the opportunity to see some of the thought-provoking speakers on show first hand. To view some of our favourite TED talks of all time visit our homepage.